Hawthorn Coach Sam Mitchell says he's excited to welcome Chad Wingard back into the starting 22 ahead of the club's clash with GWS Giants on Sunday. 

Wingard was used as the substitute in last week's loss to Geelong after overcoming a calf complaint following the club's season opener against Essendon. 

Mitchell said the veteran would be be an important addition to his side in the attacking half with the 29-year-old eager to deliver a strong performance in his home state of Adelaide. 

"There was certainly no frustration (from my perspective) - he was great and he understood it was about getting minutes into him making sure we could protect him a little bit," Mitchell said. 

"He was obviously overloaded in the early part of the season so it was about getting him to play limited minutes and have him come to Gather Round, which is going to be really exciting.

"I think if you look at our season as a whole and where we're at, we knew there would be this part of the journey and having a guy like Chad who can really solidify our forward line and kick a goal for us when we need them is valuable.

"I think it's a really important moment for him and he's going to be an important player for us and we're excited to have him back this week."

Mitchell admitted there have been some challenges around the positioning of his side and getting the balance right between midfielders and forwards.

"We're trying to maximise scores from limited opportunities, but when we get clearance domination we're not turning it into scores so we're trying to get the balance right at the moment," Mitchell said. 

"Even if you look at our rucks, one's played 19 games and the other has played 21 games and we've gone from 18th in clearances last year and now we're in front of the ledger - I think we're fifth in total clearances differential.

"So there are some parts of our game that are going okay, but being able to convert that into scores in front of the ball has been a challenge for us and the forwards without Mitch Lewis there have lacked that big key forward.

"The rucks are doing their best in that area and Fergus his holding up his end of the bargain really, but for the most part we've had to conjure goals in a different way and that has been a challenge for us in the early part of the year."

Watch the full press conference from Mitchell ahead of our clash with the Giants.